Bird Gods in Ancient Europe 



of Laius, the father of Oldipous. Her puzzle 

 was a family question that no one who was not 

 truly a son of Laius could answer ; thus she 

 kept false pretenders from the throne. 



Having now the clew in the cuckoo to the 

 Laius-Jocasta-Oidipous legend, the question 

 arises what the sphinx might be. I think it 

 safe to say that the sphinx is a Greek em- 

 broidery upon the owl, her figure having been 

 suggested by the winged lions of the Euphrates 

 valley, familiar not only to Greek travellers, 

 but to all who purchased from the Phoenician 

 merchants those gold and copper vessels carved 

 with winged beasts which were made in Asia. 

 We get thus an explanation of the sphinxes 

 on the helmet of the great statue of Pallas 

 Athene in the Parthenon described by Pau- 

 sanias. They were merely more elegant and 

 artistic forms of the homely owl, the bird of 

 Minerva, whose history I shall try to trace 

 in the following chapter. 



The Oidipous story entire has been found in 

 III 



